The Wingham Advance-Times, 1979-10-31, Page 14vC"
l4—Tb* W mgham Advance Timer, October 31. 1878
i Mock disaster tests ability
�to cope in real emergency
By Henry Hess the ZA casualties, most of them '-It wasn't a total disaster,"
first of many he plans to run at
and fire, while others went
It was only a mock disaster. stretcher cases, from the scene of Mr. Hayes commented during a
the hospital, and warned the next
outside to stage an auto accident.
The victims scattered on the disaster to the hospital. And summing-up session following
one could easily take place at 3
'Then the lights were turned off to
chairs, sofas or on the floor, once there they had to be the exercise. "There were some
o'clock in the morning.
simulate a power break and the
although they whimpered and processed and treated exactly as things wrong, but it wasn't a total
In essence it's a military
call for assistance went out.
smarted a bit, were not really in though they were real casualties disaster."
evacuation exercise such as
The Wingham Fire Depart -
pain or in any danger. Their of a real 4isaster. He said his biggest concern
those run by a field ambulance
meet was first on the scene,
wounds were not nearly so severe The whole exercise, carried out was the I% hours it took to get all
crew, he explained, in which
arriving within minutes of the
as they appeared, and all under'the name 'Code Blue', was the casualties from the accident
minimal life -supportive things
call, quickly had its equipment
recovered completely within designed to test the capability of site to the hospital and noted that
are done at each stage of the
out to right the `fire' and started
hours. emergency services in this area in a real emergency local crews
rescue while victims are
removing casualties from the
The explosion and fire which to react fast and effectively to a would have asked for help from
removed to a hospital. The ob-
building. The ambulances
had wre/iked the havoc existed crisis. It was set up by other ambulance services. In this
servers are present to watch for
arrived next, emergency lighting
only in theory and didn't hamper management personnel at case only the two ambulances
mistakes or areas of im-
was se! up and the task of taking
the rescue effort. Wingham and District Hospital from the Wingham hospital Were
provement and alsothrow some
the wounded to hospital began.
However the darkness, the rain and, in the opinion of Hospital used, as well as a station wagon
uncertainties into the exercise by
While emergency workers
and the cold were real enough, as Director Norman Hayes, it was a requisitioned for the occasion.
occasionally "killing off" a key
were beginning rescue opera -
was the task of quickly moving qualified success. He said the exercise was the
resgW worker to see how well the
tions at the site, a call went out
others compensate for his ab-
from the hospital for doctors,
`
sence.
nurses and other medical and
He tried very hard to keep the
administrative r .,, ..,..l to cope
whole thing quiet and make it as
with the expected flood of
A. `f
realistic as possible, he added,
emergency cases, and by the
but was surprised at the number
time the first cases arrived the
people of le who knew in advance.
hospital was ready.
•�, . ,. �.
You have to arrange for people. to
Stretcher stands were set in
up
simulate casualties and for a site,
the emergency department
he noted, and some word in-
where a doctor assessed the
variably leaks out.
degree and type of injuries before
Hospital workers were par-
sending patients on for treat-
tially prepared for the exercise
ment. Within two hours all casu-
':
following a series of mini-
alties had been and
x-
exercises held within the
sent to the appropriate areas for
hospital, but this was the first
treatment, and the exercise
full-scale operation involving
ended.
casualties.
During a, 'post-mortem' with
The disaster exercise began at
observers, who included ad.
Brookhaven Nursing Home just
_ ministrative, nursing and am -
before 7 o'clock last Wednesday
bulance staff from Hanover,
evening, with five nursing home
Listowel, Goderich and
residents and 15 students from
Palmerston hospitals, Mr. Hayes
the Nursing Assistants Training
asked them to think about what
-':
Centre preparing for their roles
they had seen and to let him know
as casualties. The simulation was
in writing what had gone wrong
q
made more realistic by the work
and what could be improved.
y
of George Jones of the Ontario
Every hospital. should have a
Hospital Association, who came
disaster program and should
equipped with make-up and
exercise it "on the ground", he
k=:
`moulages', simulated wounds of
declared, noting: "It's worthless
various types which, when ap--
on paper."
plied to the body, can be quite
"Ask yourself this," he
a
horruying.
c:haiienged the observers: "If
The casualties distributed
there was a meltdown and ex-
"� x
themselves around the lounge of
plosion at the Bruce, what would
the nursing home, which was the
you expect to see at your
<V;
scene of an imaginary,, explosion
hospital?"
VOLUNTEER V=it*—Vora Van Camp, Mrs. Mary Caslick and Wellington Husk; all
of Brookhaven Nursing 'Horne, took part in the disaster exercise held there last Wednes-
day night,
FiRST STAGE—Dr. M. H. Corrin, with Keith Carson and Gwen Norris, assesses the
condition of a 'victim' brought into the hospital before sending her on for treatment.
iz-
GETTING READY --Nursing students Kelly Colquohon, Alice Dalrymple, Debbie John-
ston and Brenda Kingsbury prepare to play their parts In the mock disaster staged last
week.
BURNED ARM --Mrs. Helen Ross of Brookhaven Nursing
Home was among the volunteers taking part in the mock
disaster. She simulated a victim with a burned arm.
MAKEUP ARTIST—His work could best be described as gory, but George4onis lint a
touch of realism to the 'Code Blue' disaster exercise held last week. Here Mr. Jones, who
works for the Ontario Hospital Association, applies a 'moulage' (simulated wound) to the
arm of nursing student Mrs. Jo -Ann Todd.
ane emergency workers In handling a mock disaster'last questions.
' w'^'^ ^'w "aYe ueen aumly. set up to handle them. There was 100 per cent recovery by
fed to hospital get allot!ktn from nurses In a special room all victims of the disaster exercise.